Tough and heat resisting aluminum alloy

Abstract

A tough and heat resisting aluminum alloy comprising aluminum, a transition metal element and a rare earth element, and having a modulated structure which comprises an aluminum matrix and an intermetallic compound precipitated to form a network in the aluminum matrix. Also disclosed in a process for producing the aluminum alloy which comprises the steps of: rapid quenching and solidifying a liquid aluminum alloy at a quenching rate of 102 to 105 K/sec to obtain an aluminum-based supersaturated solid solution; and heat treating the quenched aluminum-based supersaturated solid solution at a heat treating temperature of 473 K or higher, the temperature increasing rate to the heat treating temperature being 1.5 K/sec or higher.

What is claimed is:  
     
       1. A tough and heat resisting aluminum alloy comprising aluminum, at least one transition metal element and at least one rare earth element, and having a modulated structure which comprises an aluminum matrix and an intermetallic compound precipitated to form a network in said aluminum matrix, wherein said network comprises intermetallic compound bands each having a width of 10 to 500 nm and being located at a spacing with neighboring bands of from 10 to 100 nm, 
       wherein said aluminum alloy has a composition represented by formula:  
        Al a X b Z c    
       wherein X represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, V, Cr, Mo, W, Nb, Ta and Zr; Z represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of Y, La, Ce, Sm, Nd and Mm; a, b and c represent atomic percentages in which a is from 90 to 99; b is from 0.5 to 5; and c is from 0.5 to 5.  
     
     
       2. A tough and heat resisting aluminum alloy comprising aluminum, at least one transition metal element and at least one rare earth element, and having a modulated structure which comprises an aluminum matrix and an intermetallic compound precipitated to form a network in said aluminum matrix, wherein said network comprises intermetallic compound bands each having a width of 10 to 500 nm and being located at a spacing with neighboring bands of from 10 to 100 nm, 
       wherein said aluminum alloy has a composition represented by formula:  
       
         
           Al a X b Z c    
         
       
       wherein X represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of Ti, V, Cr, Mo, W, Nb, Ta and Zr; Z represents at least one element selected from the group consisting of Y, La, Ce, Sm, Nd and Mm; a, b and c represent atomic percentages in which a is from 90 to 99; b is from 0.5 to 5; and c is from 0.5 to 5, and  
       wherein the combination of X and Z is such that a binary state diagram thereof is a phase separation binary state diagram.